Review of Revolutionary Road (2008) by Maria N — 27 Dec 2012

With Revolutionary Road, director Sam Mendes attempts to recreate the huge success actor pair Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet archive with the 1997 epic romantic disaster film, Titanic. This time however the setting is far less dramatic than a sinking liner, as Revolutionary Road depicts a much more earthly occurrence: a failing relationship.

Revolutionary Road tells the story of Frank (DiCaprio) and April (Winslet) Wheeler, a young couple who find themselves living in a mundane and mutually unsatisfactory relationship at a Connecutican suburb in mid -1950s. The film drills deep into the emotional chaos both Frank and April experience as they start to realize that much of their hopes and dreams have been built upon childish dreams. This realization leads into ever escalating clashes between them as they try to salvage their crumbling marriage.

The story of Revolutionary Road was satisfactory and proves yet again that good drama does not need sinking liners or larger than life story to be effective. The story in Revolutionary Road is quite simple and requires a lot from the main actors. Thus I was glad to see strong solo performance from Dicaprio and Winslet, but it soon became painfully evident that there was very little personal chemistry between the leads. Also the film lacks real closure which left me wondering in the end; what was the point of the film at all.

So in the end, Revolutionary Road might not be exactly revolutionary film, but it is still pretty decent drama overall thanks to great solo performances from Dicaprio and Winslet.